Real Christmas trees - could someone explain?

[Hellenabe]

Dumb question i know but I'd like to get a real Christmas tree this year but I'm just confused about which tree. If its unpotted, how do you store/display it? Unpotted are bigger but do they stand up well? I'm not planning on replanting them.

I’d guess that 99% of trees are just unpotted/cut. Think if the rows of trees at garden centres/ikeas…. All cut and unpotted. We manage to keep ours alive for 6weeks

Another fan here of the kinner stand. Much less shuffling around under the tree to water, spill it everywhere, smash baubles in the process and pick up dehydrated needles.

You need to spend an hour picking the tree, asking your OH to hold each tree that you have your eye on, from different angles, while you walk around it each time having a look, it might be too skinny, to bulgey, too wide in one bit, not symmetrical, too tall, too much trunk poking out the top, too low at the bottom, the list of problems is endless, then pick up another tree and do the same.

Then do it again with the original tree you picked up first after seeing about 6 of them. Then buy the first one you looked at

When you put it in the stand, keep it in the net while you're getting it straight. Then once it's set cut through the net.

We have a potted tree that we bring in every year, it's about 6ft tall now. We paid £25 for it 8 years ago. We have had to repot it several times and it's probably coming to the end of it's life now as we can't repot it again because it will be too heavy to move, but 8 years for £25 seems like a bargain to me!

There's only me and two small kids so I need something that I can get delivered and won't be too unwieldy. Would 6ft be manageable? Looking at the stands now. Luckily the council removes if I can cut in half!

A 6ft tree is perfectly manageable in an average house.

This is what we do, they don't last forever but with plenty of water we tend to get five years out of a tree in general. Sometimes a bit more sometimes a bit less. They do become difficult to move though as you pot them up. Pot grown last best but are smaller. The worst are the ones with a root ball.

OP whether you go for cut or potted they need lots of water and a cool spot, if you can gradually acclimatise them this helps too.

6 ft is fine. I am a single parent too and I can manage it. When you get it delivered it will be in the net so at that point it's narrower and easier to move about. After Xmas it'll be lighter because it will have lost needles but you will need to clear a path for it to get it out because it will be wider.

Our local tip takes them once you've finished with them. I wouldn't put it in a car though due to the mess. I take mine there in a supermarket trolley! (There's always a few kicking about here - student area 🤣)

Real trees are lovely I think. They smell so nice.

Do you have a garden because we have had several real trees over the years and when I say REAL I cannot think of anything other than one with ROOTS because if a tree no longer has it's roots then it's DYING and I would find this an unacceptable thing to have in my house! Plus the needles would drop horrendously quickly! 😱
We have atm 2 C'mas trees in large pots in our garden, both around 3 to 4 feet tall and a few years old, they are doing well with regular watering in the warm months...We live rurally and have over the years planted some here and there in the local area, some have grown incredibly tall and only one or two didn't survive! 😥
At Christmas we put 'outside' lights on the one that we can see from our conservatory which looks beautiful when it gets dark and originally all Christmas trees were kept outside! 😍

Maybe worth trying- We add a spoonful of white sugar to the water before pooring it into the base of our cut tree trunk. It really helps keep the tree going longer.

And once it's inside and up you find it's too tall, so it has to go back out and have a bit chopped off!!

Hahaha we have never had the tying the tree to the wall/getting the tree straight stress and I feel a bit cheated 😄 we do have that Krinner stand though and keep it in its netting until it’s straight (well DH does) so maybe that’s key!

OP Id definitely go real but maybe shorter as it’s just you manoeuvring it - we usually have to have a shorter tree and put it on a little table (ikea lack table to be precise!) to make it taller, but as it’s shorter it’s not as wide as a tree that is the same height without the table, if you see what I mean.

Potted are a faff and don’t last enough years to make it worth it IMO.

Artificial are less eco than cut real trees I would argue - yeah they last forever (but that’s not good is it?) how do you ever get rid of them in an eco friendly way?

We go and choose one from our local garden centre. We get a 7-8 foot one and not too wide. Last year they had a section of slimmer ones. They net it up for you and deliver. We've got this stand which is dead easy - I can do it on my own. All the trees have pre drilled holes in the bottom, with the tree on its side and still in the netting you attach the stand, one turn and it's fixed. Then stand the tree up, fill the stand with water and cut off the netting.

Our council will collect trees after Christmas and use them for chipping.

I love having a real tree, the pine scent fills the house.

That's the one I've got. The water reservoir keeps the tree looking green and the pedal stand prevents Wobbly Tree which was a problem with the stand I had before.

Krinner stand purchased on your recs!!!! Now to pick a tree.....

Ah, just looking at that Krinner stand makes me yearn for a real tree again. I finally realised they were triggering really bad hayfever, so very reluctantly switched to an artificial last year. (Sad sniff but no allergy sniff).

Go for it OP! Enjoy your tree, for me....

Is this heavy as I'm going to collect by hand?....

How far to walk? It's not that heavy. Gets much heavier when in place and filled with water.

It's way too early bro get a cut tree isn't it ?

Potted are never big enough. We go pick out our tree, it's a family tradition. We get it first weekend in December and have no problem with it surviving to twelfth night as i water it and it's not near a radiator.

@aswarmofmidges I can order for delivery at a certain date

Noooo don't tell me you've reverted to buckets

After 20 years of buckets I have just bought a proper tree stand, I was hoping it would restore marital harmony

The type of tree also matters if you want it quite early as the cheaper ( imo nicer smelling ones ) tend to drop needles more readily than sone of the others

Mines watered weekly we drill a hole up the centre of the stump. Tree lasts over a month and sits Outside waiting for bin men looking as good as new.